


there’s cobwebs in our paradise

by slowklancing (notanannoyingfangirl)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, First Kiss, Fluff, Getting Together, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, M/M, Scary Movies, School Dances, Teenage Drama, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, halloween party
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-11 14:34:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16477385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notanannoyingfangirl/pseuds/slowklancing
Summary: Lance pulled his hand back almost immediately, two slips of paper now clutched precariously in his fingers. “Why,” Lance said overdramatically, as he offered the papers to Keith. “I do believe these are tickets to Fright Fest.”// written for the klance halloween prompt list (https://klancehalloween.tumblr.com/) designed by @waywardbaz on twitter(This fic has been translated into Russian and can be found here: https://ficbook.net/readfic/7996314 so thank you so much to the lovely Polina for translating it for me!)





	there’s cobwebs in our paradise

**Author's Note:**

> A/N:
> 
> Hey y'all, 
> 
> I had a blast working on these prompts for the thirteen days of halloween prompts created by my friend @waywardbaz over on twitter, so I hope you enjoy reading the fic that all the prompts added up to create! The title from the fic is taken from Make Out Monday’s song Mascara Lines. So Happy Halloween and have a SPOOKY day <3
> 
> \- slowklancing

_Day One - School, Thursday_

“Attention Altea High students, tickets for this week’s Fright Fest are now on sale. The price is ten dollars per person or fifteen dollars for a couple. Remember, tickets for Fright Fest are good for this Friday’s masquerade ball and this Saturday’s haunted house.”

The PA system cut off with a click, the silence of the high school hallway giving way to the low roar of chatter that the announcement had so rudely interrupted.

Keith shoved his math textbook back into his locker, before slamming the door closed hard enough that the metal rattled. But with the amount of crap that he had piled in there… it was the only way the thing would ever stay closed.

He really needed to clean it out…

“Keith!” A loud, all-too-familiar voice exclaimed, the sound of skidding sneakers filling Keith’s ears.

He glanced up and, sure enough, Lance was skidding to a stop in front of him, his grin so wide it looked like it was going to permanently stretch out his face.

“Hey, Lance,” Keith said, shifting his backpack onto his back. It was the end of the school day, and Keith was ready to get the _hell_ out of here, but… he had never been able to say no to Lance. “What’s up?”

“Guess what I’m holding behind my back,” Lance said, promptly shoving both of his hands out of Keith’s sight.

“Uh…” Keith stalled, unsure as to what Lance could possibly be hiding. It was probably something stupid.

“Ugh, I forgot how much you suck at this game,” Lance groaned, pulling his hands forward and opening them to reveal… nothing. Both of his palms were empty. “Oh, hey, Keith, look at that. I think there’s something in your mullet,” Lance said, reaching forward, his fingers just barely brushing against Keith’s hair.

Keith stilled. It was stupid, really, that just the smallest touch from Lance made his face flush and his chest pound and his stomach full with butterflies that he desperately tried to swallow down. It was stupid and pointless and Keith really, _really_ wished that this… mildly inconvenient crush on his best friend would go away.

Lance pulled his hand back almost immediately, two slips of paper now clutched precariously in his fingers. “Why,” Lance said overdramatically, as he offered the papers to Keith. “I do believe these are tickets to Fright Fest.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Nice trick, Lance. When did you learn how to do magic?”

Lance shrugged. “A magician never reveals his secrets. “So, anyways, Fright Fest? What do you say?”

Keith scoffed the toe of his converse against the floor. “I don’t know, don’t you think it’s going to be lame?”

“Keith, buddy, my man,” Lance said, grabbing onto Keith’s shoulders and forcing him to meet his gaze (had Lance’s eyes really always been that _blue_?). “The whole appeal of high school is doing lame things with your friends that you look back fondly on later.”

“I don’t know,” Keith said again, although it was significantly weaker this time. “I mean… maybe the haunted house, but the masquerade? Really? You know I don’t do dances, Lance.”

“That’s what you said about homecoming,” Lance pointed out. “But you ended up coming and having a great time. Besides, I’m sure that Hunk and Shay will be going. And Allura and Romelle. And we can probably convince Pidge and Matt to come to. Please, Keith, please, please, please, please, _please_.”

Keith felt himself caving under the earnest expression in Lance’s eyes. He never really could deny the other boy anything. Even if it meant going to stupid high school functions.

“Okay, okay, I’ll come,” Keith agreed. “But I’m not dressing up.”

“But, _Keith_ ,” Lance whined as he started to follow Keith out of the school. “You _have_ to dress up. It’s Altea High tradition.”

Keith glanced back at the other boy over his shoulder. “You already conned me into going, don’t push your luck, Lance.”

Lance closed the distance between them in two strides, draping his arm across Keith’s shoulders. “Don’t worry, man, I have a feeling that it’s gonna be great.”

< < < > > >

 

_Day One - Later, Thursday_

“Guess what,” Pidge said, practically bouncing in the seat at the tiny diner at the corner intersection by the high school that the group frequented after school (usually in the gap of time between Pidge and Hunk’s robotics club and Keith’s basketball open gyms. “I had the _best_ idea during study hall today.”

Keith stirred his straw around his strawberry milkshake idly. The whipped cream was already half melted, forming a thin layer on top of his shake. Just the way he liked it.

Lance noisily gulped down the last of his cookies-n-cream shake, before fixing Pidge with a pointed look. “And what was that?” He asked warily.

Pidge just grinned mischievously. “It’s a surprise.”

Lance groaned. “You’re such a tease, Pidge,” he said, kicking at their shins underneath the table.

Keith glanced around to see if any of the other diner patrons had noticed their antics. Luckily, it was mostly empty at this time of day, so no one was paying the rowdy teenagers much mind.

“Just wait,” Pidge promised, “it’s gonna be great.”

Hunk chose that moment to return to the table, carrying two more milkshakes, one of which he placed in front of Lance, as he slid into the booth. “What are we talking about?” He asked.

“How Pidge is a jerk,” Lance said, abandoning his efforts to kick Pidge’s shin, so that he could start making a dent in his Reese’s Cup milkshake.

Keith wrinkled his nose. “That’s disgusting,” he said, gesturing to the milkshake. “How can you drink that?”

Lance took another large sip of the milkshake as if that was proof enough of its deliciousness. “Because it’s amazing,” he said after he swallowed. “I can’t believe it’s only a Halloween flavor.”  

“Same with candy apple,” Hunk mourned. “Seasonal flavors are so good, but it’s so sad when they go away.”

“Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” Lance nodded sagely.

“So anyways,” Hunk said, deftly returning the conversation to its previous topic. “Why is Pidge a jerk?”

“Because,” Lance said, taking another sip of his second drink, “they have some surprise and they won’t tell us about it.”

“If I tell you about it,” Pidge said, adjusting their glasses, “then Keith won’t agree to come.”

Keith held up his hands. “Hold on, you want me to agree to come do something, that if I knew what it was I wouldn’t come, and you want me to agree to it _anyways_?!”

Pidge just blinked at him. “Yes.”

“No way,” Keith shook his head. “Definitely not.”

“Come on,” Pidge said, pushing themselves forward on the booth. “Lance, make him come.”

“I dunno, Pidge, it will be pretty hard to convince Keith to do something he doesn’t want to. Especially when _I_ don’t even know what I’m convincing him to do,” Lance drawled.

Pidge scowled. “It will be fun, I promise, don’t be such a dick, Lance.”

Lance threw his hands up into the air. “How is this my fault, now?”

“Because you won’t make Keith come with us. Just… if I text you the details will you convince Keith to come?”

Lance pursed his lips. “Mayyyyyybe,” he allowed.

Pidge whipped out their phone, typing something quickly.

Lance’s phone chimed, and he angled it away from Keith to read whatever Pidge’s grand plan was. Slowly, a wide grin began to stretch across Lance’s face. “Oh, _yes_ ,” he breathed. “We are _so_ in.”

Keith reached over, trying to snatch Lance’s phone to see what this “master plan” was. Lance held his arm over his head, high enough that Keith couldn’t reach it. “Just tell me what it is, Lance,” Keith pleaded, making another grab for the phone.

“No way,” Lance said, laughing as he used his free hand to push Keith away from him. “But you are _so_ coming.”

“Lance,” Keith said, making one last grab for the phone.

“I’ll pick you up at eight,” Lance said, “wear pajamas.”

Keith rolled his eyes, but he sat back on the booth. “You better not make me regret this,” Keith warned, with a pointed look at Pidge.

Pidge just grinned at him. “You won’t,” they promised.

< < < > > >

 

_Day One - Night, Thursday_

“Just because I like Buzzfeed Unsolved, Lance, doesn’t mean that I feel the need to reenact one of their videos,” Keith said as he followed his friend into the old school building back from when their small town had been even smaller and could cram all of the students into four classrooms. It was a historic monument now, or something. In any case, there was absolutely no reason for a small group of teenagers to be sneaking into the building in the middle of the night to determine if it was really as haunted as their older siblings (i.e. Lance’s older siblings) claimed it was.

“Hey there, demons. It’s me, ya boi,” Lance said, cackling at whatever he saw on Keith’s face. “Come on, Keith, lighten up. It’s not like there’s going to be any actual ghosts. That’s just what Luís and Marco told Rachel and I to freak us out when we were little. Look, there’s Pidge and Hunk.”

Sure enough, their two friends were already setting up camp in the hallway a little further up ahead, unrolling sleeping bags and setting up portable lanterns.

“Besides,” Lance continued, bouncing forward. “It’s tradition for the seniors to spend the night at the old school during Fright Fest.”

“But we’re not seniors,” Keith pointed out. “And the seniors spend the night at the old school on _Friday_ after the masquerade ball.”

Lance shrugged, “well we couldn’t crash senior night. So we’re doing it tonight instead. Come on, man,” Lance said, his eyes pleading. “Stay. It will be fun, I promise.”

Keith felt himself deflate, “I’ll stay,” he agreed. It was, like, physically impossible for him to deny Lance anything.

Lance beamed at him, reaching back to tug on Keith’s arm. “Come on, then! Let’s get our sleeping bags set up!”

Keith let Lance pull him over towards where their friends were waiting for them. A smile smile spreading across his own face, maybe tonight would be okay.

< < < > > >

“ _Keith_.”

Keith blinked his eyes open to the sound of someone hissing his name. For a second, he couldn’t place where he was, the ceiling above him unfamiliar.

Right. Sleeping bag. Old school. Ghosts. _Lance_.

Keith turned over towards where Lance had set up his sleeping bag, not surprised to notice that the other boy was already looking at him.

“Are you awake?” Lance whispered, which was stupid, because Keith was obviously awake. _Lance_ had been the one to wake him up.

“I am now,” Keith grumbled.

Lance at least had the decency to look sheepish, his blue eyes wide and his short, curly dark hair rustled from sleep. “I think I heard something.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Don’t fuck with me, Lance. We have to be at school in the morning, I’m tired.”

“I’m not fucking with you!” Lance insisted. “Seriously, I-I heard something.”

It was the catch in Lance’s breath that made Keith sit straight up. Lance only sounded like that when he was really scared. He wasn’t kidding, he really _had_ heard something.

“Let’s go see what it is,” Keith said, pushing himself off of his sleeping bag and grabbing one of the portable lanterns.

“ _Keith_!” Lance hissed again, but the sound of rustling was enough for Keith to know that he was following him. “What if it’s a ghost? Keith, I’m too young to die!”

“At least you’ll leave a beautiful corpse,” Keith whispered over his shoulder, smirking to himself when Lance turned bright red and started stuttering. Hopefully the darkness was enough to cover the pink staining Keith’s own cheeks.

A soft skittering interrupted the moment, making Lance jump. Keith glanced back at the other boy, surprised to notice how close Lance had gotten.

“Was that the noise you heard?” Keith asked, but the terrified look in Lance’s eye was all the confirmation that Keith needed.

“Yes,” Lance whispered back.

The noise sounded again, and this time Lance reached forward and grabbed Keith’s hand.

Keith looked down in bemusement. He hadn’t taken Lance to be such a scared-y cat. “Lance, it’s just a squirrel in the walls,” Keith said, biting his lip to keep from smiling.

“Oh,” some of the tension drained from Lance’s shoulders, and he hastily snatched his hand away, wiping his palms on his pants. “Right, yeah, of course.”

Suddenly, Keith found himself wishing that he hadn’t said anything. At least then Lance would still be holding his hand.

< < < > > >

 

_Day Two - Evening, Friday_

Keith glanced around the high school gymnasium. It was completely decorated for the Masquerade dance, orange and black streamers and balloons hanging from the ceiling, buckets of dry ice giving off a creepy fog, the lights were turned down low to give the whole room a creepy atmosphere. There was a table set off with a bowl of blood-red punch off to one side, as well as a plate of cookies that looked like eyeballs. The gym was already fairly crowded with students, who were dressed in semi-formal outfits with masquerade masks from the party-on store down the street stuck to their faces. A few kids had shown up in costumes, but… not very many. And the ones that were wearing costumes were mostly freshman.

He had agreed to meet Lance (and by extension, Pidge and Hunk) here, and Keith found himself regretting it. They should have met outside. Or at one of their houses. Anything so that Keith wasn’t standing on the edge of the gym floor like a wallflower, as he looked around awkwardly.

Keith reached up, straightening his tie. After (a lot) of convincing from Lance, he had agreed to wear a red dress shirt, black dress pants, and a black tie. As well as a red and black masquerade mask that Lance had bought for him. The shirt was uncomfortable and the mask made it hard to see, but Keith had to admit… he looked good. As a last minute decision, he had tied his hair back into a ponytail, which he felt helped to complete the look.

“Punch?” Someone asked, stepping up behind him.

Keith whirled around to see who had approached him, not surprised to see Lance’s blue eyes sparkling behind a silver masquerade mask.

“Sure,” Keith said, reaching out and taking the plastic cup of punch that Lance offered him, letting his eyes trail over the rest of Lance’s outfit as he did so. A bright blue dress shirt with a silver tie, dark dress pants, brown shoes that shouldn’t match but somehow did. It was almost unfair, how good he looked.

Thankfully, the masquerade mask hid the blush that was surely staining Keith’s cheeks. At least it was good for _something_.

“You look great. Uh, nice, I mean,” Lance said, fidgeting.

Keith glanced sideways at Lance, “Um. Thanks. You look… nice, too.”

“You pulled back your hair,” Lance said, and it wasn’t exactly a question.

“Yeah?” Keith replied slowly.

Lance nodded. “Cool, yeah, you don’t normally do that. Oh, hey, there’s Allura, be right back, man.”

And then he was gone.

“Well that was just painful,” someone commented dryly.

Keith glanced over his shoulder (how did people keep managing to sneak up behind him?) just in time to see Nyma take a swig from a flask that she apparently produced from the top of her dress.

“What?” Keith asked, glancing around to see if there was anyone else she could possibly be talking to.

There wasn’t.

“The two of you,” Nyma waved a hand. “The way you, like, dance around each other. It’s so sweet it makes me want to throw up.”

Keith turned back around, intending to ignore her, but that kind of plan never seemed to work with Nyma, and she just stepped forward, draping an arm around Keith’s shoulders.

“Here,” she said, tipping her flask into his cup of punch. “You need this more than I do.”

And then she was gone.

Keith hesitantly took a sip of his drink. It was absolutely disgusting, but it left a warm feeling in his stomach that actually felt kind of nice, so Keith hesitantly took another drink. And then another.

By the time Lance returned to his side, Keith wasn’t drunk, but he was buzzed enough that when Lance said they should dance, Keith found himself agreeing, letting Lance pull him out onto the dance floor.

It was just as awful as homecoming had been, the music too fast to slow dance too, so everyone wa just kind of awkwardly grinding against one another, but the feeling of Lance’s hand on his elbow was enough to steady him.

It wasn’t long before Pidge and Hunk found them, and Lance started showing off some truly ridiculous dance moves, but Keith was too busy laughing to really care about how stupid they all looked.

And the smile that Lance gave him, once they had tired of dancing and were leaning against the wall outside of the school waiting for Hunk to bring the car around, well… that was worth suffering through any number of stupid high school traditions.

< < < > > >

 

_Day Two - After the Dance, Friday_

Keith tossed himself onto the couch in Pidge’s finished basement, tucking his feet underneath him. It had been Lance’s idea that they all crash somewhere after the dance, but his house was crowded with older siblings and nieces and nephews (who, while adorable) didn’t let you get much sleep, so Pidge had offered up their house instead. Thankfully, Keith had been warned ahead of time and had the good sense to pack sweatpants and one of his old basketball t-shirts. Otherwise he would have been forced to wear that stupid dress shirt all night.

The couch dipped suddenly as Lance climbed over the back of the couch, situating himself between Keith and Hunk. He, too, had brought a spare change of clothes - blue pajama pants with tiny rocket ships on them and a swim-team hoodie.

“Did Pidge actually let you pick the movie?” Keith asked, watching as Hunk handed Lance a bowl of microwave popcorn.

Lance nodded. “Yep,” he replied, popping the ‘P’.

“Correction, _why_ did Pidge let you pick the movie?” Keith asked, smirking slightly.

Lance let an indigent squeak, “What is that supposed to mean?”

“That you have literally _the worst_ taste in movies,” Keith replied, reaching over to steal a handful of popcorn.

“That is blasphemy,” Lance protested, “I’ll have you know that I have _spectacular_ taste in movies.

“What are we watching?” Keith asked, arching a brow.

Lance shrunk back into the couch cushions. “... Twilight.”

Keith snorted. “My point is proven.”

“But it’s Eclipse! And everyone knows that’s the best Twilight movie!” Lance protested.

Keith rolled his eyes. “All the Twilight movies are terrible, Lance.”

Before Lance could reply about how the Twilight films were actually good films because of the special effects or something, Pidge returned and grabbed the remote from the TV stand before joining the others on the couch.

“Everyone ready?” They asked, pushing play before anyone had the chance to respond.

Keith manages to make it about halfway through the movie without saying anything _too_ insulting about the movie, nothing to bring the movie night to a sudden halt. It’s Lance who does that.

“God,” Lance said, picking at the remnants of the popcorn. “Taylor Lautner is just… so hot.”

Keith froze with his bottle of water halfway to his lips, glancing out of the corner of his eye just in time to catch Hunk shoot a pointed look in Lance’s direction.

Keith held his breath, waiting for Lance to continue on and say something about how he was “just kidding” or “no homo tho”.

But he didn’t.

Instead Lance blushed bright red, but he glanced around to make sure that everyone was looking at him before he cleared his throat slightly. “That’s, um, I mean… I like guys. And girls! Obviously. Um… I like… both. I’m bisexual.”

Hunk grinned down at him, patting Lance on the shoulder. “Thanks for telling us, dude.”

Pidge pushes their glasses up on their nose. “Is that why you made me go see New Moon _three_ times in the theater? I understand so much now.”

Lance glanced over at Keith, the only one who hadn’t responded.

Keith didn’t know if he could force his lips to form words. This whole time, he had never allowed himself to imagine…

“Um, that’s cool,” he offered, giving Lance the best smile he could muster. “Doesn’t change anything about you, man.”

Lance grinned at him, obviously recognizing the words that he had said when Keith told him he was gay. “Okay,” he said, settling back into the couch cushions, rewinding the movie so they could watch Taylor Lautner rip his shirt off and transform into a werewolf _again_.  

“You know,” Keith commented idly, “I was always more Team Edward.”

Lance let out an another indignant gasp, reaching over to poke at Keith’s sides. “Take it back,” he demanded.

“And the Renesme storyline was creepy,” Keith continued, cackling at the outraged look in Lance’s face.

“It kind of was,” Pidge added.

“Y tú, Pidge?” Lance asked, placing a hand over his heart. Pidge shrugged, jumping off the couch and laughing when Lance tried to grab them.

< < < > > >

 

_Day Two - Saturday, Early Morning_

“Wake up Sleeping Beauty,” Keith said, reaching over to poke at Lance with his toes.

Lance ignored him, burrowing deeper into the mess of blankets and pillows that they had set up on the floor of Pidge’s basement.

“Seriously,” Keith said, pushing at Lance again with his foot. “Did someone put you under a sleeping curse, or something, _how_ are you still asleep?”

“I’m not,” Lance grumbled. “Thanks to you.”

“The rest of us have been up for hours, and you need at least forty minutes to get ready to go, so come on, time to get moving,” Keith gave Lance one last poke in the side, before pushing himself off the couch. “You _do_ want to go the Haunted House event at the school today, don’t you? Pidge wants to go out for lunch and then we all need to go back home to get changed.”

Lance groaned, but he pushed himself up, wiping at his eyes. “I thought princes were supposed to be nicer when they woke you up,” he muttered.

Keith rolled his eyes.

“You’re not much of a princess, Lance,” Pidge called, hoping over the back of the couch. Where they had come from, Keith wasn’t really sure.

“I’ll have you know that I would be an amazing princess,” Lance scoffed. “Where do you want to go for lunch at?”

“I was thinking Sal’s?” Pidge offered. “That way you can get breakfast food while the rest of us have lunch.”

“Ha ha,” Lance said dryly. “Not everyone enjoys waking up before the sun, Pidge.”

“It’s _noon_ ,” Pidge said pointedly, “the sun has been awake for awhile.”

“I like my beauty sleep, sue me,” Lance said, but he pried himself loose from his pile of blankets, draping it around his shoulders like a cape.

“Dramatic much?” Pidge mouthed to Keith when Lance wasn’t looking.

“Get ready quickly,” Keith warned, ignoring Pidge. “We’ll meet you in the car.”

Lance waved one of his hands carelessly, but he wandered off in the direction of the bathroom, so Keith figured that was as good a sign as any to go get the car warmed up. Lance had gotten dropped off at the dance by Veronica, so until he went home, Keith was stuck carting his ass around.

Not that he minded, really.

“I’m coming too,” Pidge said, hopping off the couch and following Keith upstairs.

Keith waved goodbye to Colleen and Sam, who were sitting at the table drinking coffee, Matt was nowhere to be seen, before letting Pidge lead the way outside.

Outside.

Which was… covered in… toilet paper.

Pidge groaned loudly. “Not again! _Mom_ , _Dad_ , those annoying Garrison kids toilet-papered our yard again.”

Keith wrinkled his nose at the mention of Altea’s rival high school. Ever since Sam Holt had quit to work for Altea, his ex students had taken to releasing their frustration on Halloween. Involving the Holt’s front yard and lots of toilet paper.

“Curse you hooligans!” Pidge shouted, even though there was no-one around to hear them. “May you always have slow internet and buffering YouTube videos!”

“Really?” Keith asked, snorting slightly. “That’s the best you can do?”

“Shut up,” Pidge huffed, “I’m working off the top of my head here.”  

“What about you head?” Lance asked, stepping through the door before freezing. “So I see James and his cronies have been here again.”

“Apparently. Pidge cursed them with slow internet,” Keith supplied.

“And always buffering YouTube videos,” Pidge added.

Lance nodded slowly, looking at both of them like they were insane. “ _Right_.”

“So pancakes at Sal’s?” Pidge asked.

“What about the yard?” Keith asked. “Shouldn’t we help, like, clean up or something.

Pidge pointed to where Hunk was standing collecting an armful of the toilet paper. “I think Hunk has it covered.”

“Pretty sure we should help, buddy,” Lance said, patting Pidge’s shoulder before moving in Hunk’s direction.

“Ugh, fine, pancakes can wait,” Pidge huffed.

< < < > > >

 

_Day Three - Saturday_

“This looks great!” Pidge said.

And Keith had to agree with them. Overnight their school had been completely transformed until Keith could barely recognize it anymore. The hallways were covered with black wrapping paper and the overhead lights covered by purple paper, giving the room a creepy atmosphere. Currently they were in the gym lobby, which had a few skeleton props and cauldrons of dry ice letting off fog, but was otherwise clear of monsters and creepy things. But Keith knew that wouldn’t be true for the rest of the school.

“It does,” he replied, picking at his red and black flannel. Hunk and Shay had already started going through the maze, so he and Pidge were just waiting for Lance.

“Oh hey! There’s Matt! I’ll catch up with you later,” Pidge said, disappearing from Keith’s side.

Correction. Keith was waiting for Lance.

“Hey, there you are,” Lance said, materializing before Keith as if his thoughts had summoned him. “You ready to go?”

Keith blinked at him. Lance was wearing an absolutely _sinful_ pair of fishnet tights, black combat boots, and pair of shorts that were just a _little_ too short and a white t-shirt and leather jacket. Black nails and a choker completed the look.

Anything Keith wanted to say died in his throat. “Um, y-yeah,” he finally managed to get out.

Lance didn’t appear to notice the effect his outfit was having on Keith, simply grinning at Keith and pulling him in the direction of the high school wing. The one marked **Your Worst Nightmare**. Great.

“Lance, are you sure that you want to pick this hallway? Maybe we should start with one of the others.”

Lance waved him off. “Don’t be a scaredy cat, Keith.”

The first few “rooms” (curtained off potions of hallway) were fairly uneventful, just props and some recordings of scary noises. But eventually the curtened path led them to the door of a classroom.

Keith shared a curious glance with Lance, who nodded. He reached out, pushing the door open.

The entire classroom was filled with blood red balloons, spiderwebs draped across the wall, and mannequins dressed in period clothing.

Lance let out a small huff of air. “This haunted house isn’t so scary,” he said, following as Keith began moving further into the room.

There was probably another exit around here somewhere…

“Oh man,” Lance said, reaching out to touch one of the mannequins dresses like Marie Antoinette. “Some of these things look pretty real.”

“Don’t touch them,” Keith warned, batting Lance’s hand away.

As if that was what the “mannequin” had been waiting for, it abruptly started moving, turning around to grab at them. Lance let out a loud screech, grabbing Keith’s shoulders and pushing him in front of him.

“Hey!” Keith said, trying not to wince at the fake blood that was dripping from the “Marie Antoinette” person’s lips. It was disturbingly real looking.

Luckily, now that she had scared them, the mannequin froze before returning to her original position.

“Lance, you _jerk_! You totally just used me as a human shield!” Keith grumbled as he started pulling Lance towards the door that connected two of the classrooms, surely the way they were supposed to go.

“Sorry! It was just instinct,” Lance replied, pressing close to Keith. “This was creepier than I thought it would be.”

“You chose the path called **Your Worst Nightmare** ,” Keith shook his head, “what were you expecting?”

Lance smiled sheepishly. “Something shitty put together by high schoolers.”

Keith opened the door to the next room, stifling a laugh as an animated doll started talking and Lance jumped. But the laughter died in his throat when Lance’s hand clasped around his own.

“Don’t laugh at me,” Lance warned. “But we’re a team and you are going to get me through this because I made a _terrible_ mistake.”

Keith shook his head softly, but, well, he wasn’t exactly about to protest. Not when he had an excuse to hold Lance’s hand.

“I got your back,” he said, squeezing Lance’s hand briefly.

Lance looked reassured by the contact, and nodded, a serious expression replacing his grin. “Let’s do this, Samuri.”

< < < > > >

 

By the time Keith and Lance made their way through the haunted hallways to the cafeteria, the first ‘scary movie’ that was being projected onto the large, pull-down screen was already mostly over.

“You made us miss _Frankenstein_ ,” Keith hissed to Lance, tugging him down so they were sitting on the floor near the back.

Lance rolled his eyes. “The movie is in _black and white_ , Keith. There’s no way that’s a good movie.”

“Okay movie snob. Well what are the showing next?” Keith asked, reaching for the brochure that one of the teachers had handed to them on their way into the cafeteria.  

“The original _Friday the Thirteenth_. Is that one really scary? Please say no,” Lance said, pouting slightly.

“It’s just campy. This is a school event, they aren’t going to show anything super freaky like _The Conjuring_.”

Lance shuddered. “Okay good. Campy I can handle.”

“Stop talking during the movie,” one of the kids in front of them hissed, turning around to glare at them.

“I told you this was a good movie,” Keith whispered, poking Lance in the side. “People are invested.”

But as it turns out, Lance couldn’t even handle campy scary movies. He made it through most of _Friday the Thirteenth_ without freaking out, but he screamed when it was revealed that Mrs Voorhees was the killer and started going for Alice. And he ended up burying his face in Keith’s neck so he couldn’t have to see Alice decapitating her with the machete. And when Jason’s decomposing body comes out of the lake to drown Alice? Lance jumped so badly he started the kids around them.

“Then he’s still there,” Alice’s voice rang through the screen, as it cut to a shot of the lake.

“Okay what the _fuck_ was that?!” Lance asked sharply, while the teachers tried to figure out how to get the next movie set up. “Like… the decomposing body comes out of the lake and then they just don’t address that? I mean, like, what happened? Was it real or did Alice hallucinate it?  She totally could of hallucinated it. I mean she just saw, like, all of her fellow councillors die. _And_ she just killed someone with a machete. But isn’t Jason like one of the all-time-best-horror-killers? So he must be real, right?”

Keith chuckled. “That’s what sequels are for, Lance. There’s _twelve_ movies.”

“Twelve!?” Lance screeched. “I don’t think I could sit through twelve of these movies.”

“No one is making you,” Keith reminded him. “We could always leave.”

“But if we leave we have to go through the haunted hallways again. And I’m not ready, Keith, I’m too young to die!”

Keith rolled his eyes at his friends dramatics. “Then I guess we’re watching the sequel,” he said, as the movie began to play.

“Oh, hey, that’s Alice. That’s cool that she’s in the sequel,” Lance said. “Maybe she’s chop more people’s- okay that’s a head in her fridge. Gross. OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD. He just killed her. Keith, did you see that?”

Keith patted Lance’s knee. “Yes, Lance, I saw. Don’t you know better than to get attached to any of the heroines of horror movies? They all end up dead.”

“That’s so not fair,” Lance pouted. “She survived the whole first movie just to be killed in the first ten minutes of the second.”

“The opening scene of a horror movie is always a death,” Keith warned. “ _Always_.”

Lance shuddered again, pressing in closer to Keith’s side.

Keith held his breath. This close, he could smell Lance’s skin, warm, like cinnamon. His coconut shampoo. It was… distracting, to say the least.

“Oh god,” Lance whined, once the movie was almost done. “That’s an… yep… that’s an altar for his dead mom. And… those are all his victims… and OH MY GOD is that Alice. Ickkkkkk.”

And once the movie had finished, “Talk about an ambiguous ending. That’s so _annoying_ , did the guy live or die? Keith, did he live or die?”

“I don’t know,” Keith replied, laughing as he tried to stop Lance from shaking him.

“Okay, I can’t take any more of this. Come on, we’re leaving.”

“It means going through the haunted hallways again,” Keith reminded him.

“I don’t even care anymore,” Lance declared, leading the way out of the cafeteria before Keith had a chance to argue.

< < < > > >

 

_Saturday, Evening_

“All the good costumes are gone by now,” Lance mourned. “Why did we wait so long to come costume shopping?”

“To be fair,” Keith pointed out, “I didn’t want to come at all. You made me. So the only person you have to blame is yourself.”

“You can’t _not_ wear a costume on Halloween, Keith,” Lance said, rolling his eyes. “That’s just not right.”

“But it’s not like we have any plans. I was just going to stay home and pass out candy. I can do that in my pajamas,” Keith protested.

Lance let out a gasp of mock outrage. “You can’t pass out candy in your _pajamas_ , Keith. What will the children think?”

“That I’m giving them free candy?” Keith said. “I’m pretty sure you’re the only one who cares, Lance.”

“Nope, no way, I refuse to believe that. You’re getting a costume. Whether you want to or not.”

Keith rolled his eyes, but he followed Lance as he led him into the Halloween store. Lance was right, it was mostly picked over this close to Halloween. Especially the kid section. But the props were still working, moving and making noises when Keith stepped on the buttons to trigger them (making Lance jump more than a few times).

“How about this?” Lance asked, holding up one of the cheesy costumes that made you look like a life-sized donut, snickering.

“No way,” Keith pushed the costume away.

Lance, still snickering, returned to scanning the rocks. “Oh! I think I found one I like. I’m going to go try it on. Keep looking and let me know if you find anything.” And with that he took one of the prepackaged costumes and disappeared towards the back.

Keith wandered around the store, stopping in front of the wall of costumes for characters from pop culture. Maybe…

The cape was really cool.

Keith checked the price on the prepackaged costume. Sixty dollars? _Seriously_? That seemed a little ridiculous.

But…

He glanced back towards the changing rooms Lance had disappeared into. He knew that it would amuse Lance to no end to see Keith dressed as one of his favorite TV show characters.

Keith pulled the costume off the shelf, checking to make sure that it was the right size. It was. And it was the last one in stock. Keith wasn’t much of a believer, but it seemed almost like fate.

He let out a puff of air through his nose. Was he really about to spend sixty dollars just so he could see Lance laugh at him (as he undoubtedly would)?

Yes. Yes, he really was.

Lance still hadn’t emerged from the dressing room, so Keith padded over to the register and paid for the costume, grateful that the bag concealed the costume from view. There was no way he was telling Lance who he was going as until Lance saw him in the costume.

The look on Lance’s face would be priceless.

“Hey,” Lance said approaching, raising an eyebrow at the bag Keith was holding. “Did you find something?”

Keith nodded, trying to get a look at the costume Lance had tucked under his arm, but when he noticed Keith looking, Lance shifted so Keith couldn’t see it. “No way man, you just have to wait and see. That way I can make sure that you actually _wear_ your costume.”

“I just paid sixty dollars for it, I better actually wear it,” Keith grumbled.

“Ugh why do Halloween costumes have to be so expensive,” Lance agreed, handing his costume to the cashier.

Keith kept his gaze fixed on the scary display of a Michael Myers doll that pretended to slash at you with a knife while Lance paid.

“That will be fifty dollars,” the cashier said in a dry voice.

Lance paid quickly, the cashier slipping his costume into a plastic bag. “Okay, Keith, you can look now.”

Keith turned back around, just in time to see Lance swing his bag onto his arm. “Can we get out of here now?”

Lance rolled his eyes. “You act like the mall is the worst place in the world. But yes, we can go. Let’s blow this popsicle stick,” Lance said, stepping forward so the automatic doors swished open.

Keith followed him, shaking his head softly.

< < < > > >

However, as was with any time they came to the mall, they barely made it more than a few steps before they bumped into someone they knew.

Or in this case, someones.

“Oh, hey, I think that’s-” Lance started to say, before waving his arm wildly. “Hey! ‘Lura! Ro!”

The combination of yelling and flailing seemed to be enough to capture the attention of their friends, who were waiting in the Starbucks across the way.

Both Allura and Romelle were dressed in all black, witch hats perched on their heads. They waved back, Romelle picking up two drinks, before they headed in the direction of Lance and Keith.

“What are you guys doing here?” Lance asked, giving both of them a quick hug.

Keith settled for a nod. The truth was, he wasn’t as close to Allura and Romelle as his other friends were.

Romelle passed one of the drinks to Allura, who took a sip of the frozen vanilla drink before speaking. “We had some last minute party supplies to pick up. You’re both coming, right?”

Lance shared a confused glance with Keith. “Coming to… what?” Lance asked slowly, once he seemed to determine that Keith had no idea what they were talking about, either.

“My party!” Allura said. “I’m throwing a costume party tomorrow. Hunk was supposed to pass on the invitation, but… obviously he didn’t. You had no idea about this, did you?”

Lance shook his head. “Nope,” he said, popping the ‘P’.

“I told you we should have invited them ourselves,” Romelle said fondly, rolling her eyes. “Hunk is pretty forgetful.”

“But this is only gonna be the biggest party of the year, the perfect way to finish off our Senior year Fright Fest,” Allura replied. “You’d think that would have been important enough to remember.”

Romelle shrugged. “It’s not Hunk’s senior year, ‘Lura, it’s ours. Well, in any case, Allura is throwing a costume party tomorrow and you two should totally come. Sorry the invitation is so last minute. We understand if you already have other plans.”

Lance shared a glance with Keith, which Keith steadfastly returned. It was obvious that Lance was trying to figure out if he wanted to go. From the pleading look in Lance’s blue eyes, Keith could tell that his friend _really_ wanted to go.

And, well, it’s not like Keith had any _other_ plans.

Keith nodded.

Lance grinned, turning back to Allura and Romelle. “We’ll be there!”

Allura flicked her dyed silver hair over her shoulder, slightly jostling the witch hat in her head. “Great! We were just about to go pick up some candy and pop, so we better get going, but we’ll see you tomorrow!”

“And remember it’s a _costume_ party. So come dressed up,” Romelle added.

“Oh, and my parents are out of town so Rolo’s supplying the booze, Hunk’s in charge of appetizers, and Matt is DJ-ing,” Allura said, counting off on her fingers as she talked. “So it should be fun.”

“Sounds great,” Lance said, slinging an arm over Keith’s shoulders. “We’ll definitely be there.”

“See you tomorrow,” Allura said, as she and Romelle started to head in the direction of Target. She took another sip of her drink. “Ugh this is disgusting,” she said to Romelle as they walked away. “Swap drinks with me?”

“I told you not to try the seasonal vampire Frappuccino. That cherry sauce is disgusting,” Romelle said, but she let her girlfriend switch their drinks.

“I can’t believe Hunk _forgot_ to tell us that we’re invited to one of the biggest parties of the school year,” Lance complained.

“We’ve been pretty busy lately,” Keith offered, with the haunted house thing and sneaking into the old school and the masquerade ball. I’m sure he just forgot.”

“I guess,” Lance said, blowing out a puff of air. “But to think we almost missed the party! Thank you for agreeing to go, by the way. I know that parties aren’t really your scene.”

“Well,” _I knew you wanted to go_ , Keith thought but didn’t say aloud. “It gives me a place to wear my new costume too.”

Lance laughed. “That’s true. Maybe it will be worth the sixty dollars after all.”

< < < > > >

 

_Day Four - Sunday_

Keith let his gaze wander around the crowd wandering around the first floor of Allura’s mansion. Everyone was in costumes, making it hard for Keith to recognize anyone. He had briefly seen Allura and Romelle when he walked in, both of them in full-fledged witch costumes. Hunk and Shay were supposedly there in some sort of couple costume, but Keith had yet to see them. It was unclear whether or not Pidge was going to be at the party, and as for Lance…

Well, Keith had no idea what Lance was going to be dressed as so he wasn’t really sure what he was supposed to be looking for.

Someone had given him a cup of… something when he walked in, but Keith had promptly tossed it in the trash.

He felt awkward and out of place, the black cape hanging from his shoulders a lot _hotter_ than Keith had thought it would be. The sword hanging from his hip clacked against his legs with every step that Keith took. The costume was just so _damn_ impractical.

“Oh my _god_ , you look amazing,” Lance said, materializing from the crowd to stop in front of Keith. “I mean, _John Snow_? Keith that is literally the _perfect_ costume for you! You have the hair for it and everything!”

Keith felt a blush spread across his cheek as his gaze swept over Lance’s costume. A dark green costume designed to look like leather armor, a green hood pulled up over his head (probably why Keith hadn’t been able to spot him in the crowd), and a fake bow and arrow held in his hand, a quiver swinging from his other arm.

“Robin Hood?” Keith asked, arching a brow.

“The original sharpshooter,” Lance said, grinning.

“You look great,” Keith told him, hoping that the lighting was low enough that Lance couldn’t see how red he was.

Lance beamed. “I know right. It’s the bow and arrow, it totally completes the look.”

“Right,” Keith agreed, laughing nervously.

“So Pidge sent me to find you, apparently they’re organizing a mummy-wrap contest in the basement, and we are _so_ not missing that.”

Keith wrinkled his nose. “Isn’t that a little… childish?”

“Says the guy in the full-blown Halloween costume,” Lance pointed out, grabbing Keith’s arm and starting to pull him through the throng of people.

“You’re also in a costume,” Keith muttered, pursing his lips.

Lance ignored him, pulling open the door to the basement and leading Keith downstairs.

Thankfully the crowd downstairs was thinner, and consisted of mostly people that Keith recognized. Sure enough, Pidge was standing at the center of a small ring of people, dressed as Indiana Jones and passing out rolls of toilet paper. Matt was there, dressed as some kind of mad scientist, as well as his friends Nyma, Rolo, and Olia. Hunk and Shay were there as well, dressed as Ash and Misty from Pokémon.

“Here,” Pidge said, stepping up to them and pressing a roll of toilet paper into Keith’s hands. “Is everybody ready? On your marks, get set, go!”

Keith turned to Lance, confused, but Lance just made a ‘hurry up’ gesture with his hands. “Come on, _Keith_ , we’re gonna lose.”

Not really sure what he was supposed to be doing, Keith glanced over towards Hunk and Shay. Shay was wrapping Hunk in the toilet paper, leaving barely any of his costume exposed.

Okay then.

Keith got to work, wrapping the toliet paper around Lance as quickly as he could, although they had already lost a lot of time thanks to Keith not knowing what he was doing.

Thankfully Lance stood still while Keith worked, although Keith had a feeling that his patchwork job wasn’t going to stand up against the competition.

“ _And_ time!” Pidge called. “Drop those toilet paper rolls.”

Keith let his toilet paper roll drop to the ground.

Pidge rounded the groups, taking in the work that had been done. Nyma’s and Rolo’s was by far the best - Nyma had almost completely covered him ( _including_ his head!), but Hunk and Shay were a close second.

Needless to say, Keith and Lance came in dead last. But Lance couldn’t stop laughing as he tried to untangle himself from the toilet paper.

“What the hell, Keith, that was _terrible_ ,” Lance said, pulling another strand of toilet paper from his chest.

“I didn’t think it was _that_ bad,” Keith muttered, but mostly just to make Lance laugh again.

< < < > > >

 

“Here you go,” Lance said, handing Keith a cup that was shaped like a jack o’lantern (complete with a scary face and all). “Some of Allura’s famous Fright Fest punch.”

Keith took a tentative sip of the drink, relieved to discover it was just soda pop and sherbet. “Thanks,” he said. “This was fun. I’m glad we came.”

“Me too,” Lance said, dropping down so that he was sitting beside Keith on Allura’s back porch. Out here, the loud music from the party was nothing but the distant thump of bass, the loud conversations and crowd of people all but vanished into thin air.

“Sorry, I just… needed some air,” Keith said, waving his hand around the blanket of night surrounding them.

“S’cool,” Lance said, taking a sip of his punch. “I don’t mind.”

“But I’m sure you’d rather be inside with everyone else having fun,” Keith said, feeling guilty for making Lance sit outside in the cold October air with him. Wouldn’t Lance rather be dancing or playing party games or chatting with Hunk and Shay or Allura and Romelle?

“Nah,” Lance waved one hand through the air. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be, swear.”

Keith felt his cheeks flush, and he hoped the  combination of the dark and his fur-lined cloak hid his face from view.

He was sure Lance didn’t mean it the way that he was taking it, and yet… and yet...

“Well, just for the record, you know… there’s no one else I’d rather be with, either,” Keith admitted softly, his voice coming out more _fond_ than he expected it to.

But Lance just grinned at him, his teeth practically glowing in the darkness. “Cheers to that,” Lance said, holding his pumpkin-shaped cup between them.

Keith leaned over and clinched their glasses together. “Cheers,” he said, before taking another sip of his soda-and-sherbet.

“Thanks for being such a good sport about all of this,” Lance said, waving his free hand through the air. “I know that high school stuff isn’t really high on your bucket list, but… it just wouldn’t be the same without you, man.”

Keith felt a soft smile tugging at the corners of his lips. Lance was right, of course, Keith was never one to go crazy with school spirit, but he was glad that Lance had convinced him to give Fright Fest a chance.

“I’m glad you talked me into it,” Keith admitted, reaching up to push his bangs off his face, even though they promptly fell back down into his eyes again. “I had fun doing all the Halloween activities. With… with you.”

Lance’s expression softened, and he reached over to push the hair away from Keith’s forehead, mirroring the action that Keith had just taken.

Keith’s eyes tracked the movement, the feeling of Lance’s fingers sliding through his fingers more natural than it probably should have been.

Lance blushed, snatching his hand backwards. “Sorry! I… just… your hair looked really soft.”

Keith felt himself flush, tipping his head towards the ground so that he didn’t have to face Lance as he spoke. “I didn’t… I didn’t mind.”

He tipped his head to the side slightly, just enough so that he could watch Lance out of the corner of his eye.

Lance’s eyes widened slightly, his mouth popping open slightly before he composed himself.

“Do you…,” Lance paused and cleared his throat, before shifting closer, leaning in so that Keith was forced to meet his blue eyes.

God, his eyes were _so_ blue. Little flakes of gold circled his pupil.

When had Lance gotten close enough for Keith to see his pupils?

“Keith,” Lance tried again, his voice coming out low. “Can I kiss you?”

Keith blinked. “Yes,” he said, his voice coming out as little more than a whisper.

He held perfectly still, barely daring to breathe while Lance leaned in closer. His eyelids fluttered shut, almost against his own volition.

Lance’s lips brushed across his softly, barely there at all, like Lance was testing the waters. When Keith didn’t immediately pull away, Lance pressed his lips to Keith’s again, firmer this time.

His lips slid across Keith’s softly, and Keith reached over, his free hand finding purchase on the front of Lance’s costume.

He heard a clicking sound that some distant part of his brain assumed was Lance setting his cup of punch off to the side, before Lance’s fingers were on his neck, tangling in to his hair and tipping his head to give them a better angle and…

… _oh_.

Keith had never kissed anyone before and apparently he was really missing out because whatever Lance was doing to his lips? It felt a little like magic.

Eventually, all too soon, Lance pulled away, his eyes searching Keith’s as if to check and double check that everything was okay.

_Yes, yes, yes_ Keith wanted to scream, but he settled for a soft smile.

Lance echoed it with a smile of his own. “Hey, Keith,” he whispered.

“Yeah?”

“I really, really, really, _really_ like you,” Lance said, his cheeks staining pink.

“You know what they say about that many ‘reallys’,” Keith said, reaching over and poking Lance in the cheek.

“Yeah, I do,” Lance said, his steady gaze never wavering.

“Oh,” Keith said softly. “Hey, Lance? I really, really, really, _really_ like you too.”

“Good,” Lance said, leaning in and letting his lips brush up against Keith’s once again.

Sometime later, it might have been seconds or months or years, Keith honestly wasn’t sure, Lance pulled away again, pushing himself off the porch and offering Keith his hand.

Keith accepted it, letting Lance haul him to his feet. However, once they were both standing Lance didn’t drop Keith’s hand like he normally would have done, instead he intertwined their fingers.

“Ready to go back inside?” Lance asked.

Keith nodded. “Hey, Lance…”

“Yeah?” Lance asked, arching a brow.

“Happy Halloween.”

Lance smiled, stepping in closer and pressing one last chaste kiss to Keith’s lips. Probably just because he could.

“Happy Halloween, Keith.”

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on twitter to chat about Voltron and keep up with the writing projects I'm working on over at @slowklancing
> 
> And if you enjoyed the fic, please leave kudos or comments as they feed my soul!


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